Five Star Friday is my version of the monthly wrap-up. On the first Friday of each month, I will share my five-star reads from the previous month. Fingers crossed, I have lots of books to tell you about.
This month, I was able to read 25 books, and I had 6 five-star reads.
Published by Dell on October 14, 2025
Age/Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Rating:
Goodreads
A sentimental advertising creative and a blunt, no-nonsense bar owner find a second chance at love while binge-watching iconic holiday movies in this poignant and heartwarming romance, from the author of Charm City Rocks and All Together Now.
The new year barely began when Grace White and Henry Adler both lost their spouses. Now, nearly a year later, the first holiday season since their "Great and Terrible Sadnesses" approaches. Although their mothers scheme to matchmake the two surviving spouses, it’s clear that neither is ready to date again. Yet no one understands what they're going through better than each other, and a delicate friendship is born.
When Henry sees an ad for a Christmas movie marathon—once an annual tradition for him and his wife—Grace offers to watch some films with him, despite her aversion to a few of his picks. Her two young kids, Ian and Bella, also join in whenever possible—bedtimes permitting, of course.
With each movie, Grace and Henry’s shared grief eases as they start to see a life beyond the sadness. But as they draw closer, other romantic possibilities leave them both uncertain about their future together. Is their bond merely the result of loneliness and shared circumstances, or have they found something that’s worth taking a shot at . . . again?
[review]
Published by Gallery Books on October 28, 2025
Age/Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Rating:
Goodreads
Jane Austen’s Persuasion meets the Big Apple in this swoon-worthy holiday romance from the authors of the “charming” (Kristy Woodson Harvey, New York Times bestselling author) Elizabeth of East Hampton and Emma of 83rd Street.
Eight years ago, Anne Elliot broke Freddie Wentworth’s heart when she refused to give up her five-year plan for the sake of adventure. But despite big dreams, Anne, now thirty, is still living at home with hardly a plan in sight. Anne tries to be optimistic—she knows better than anyone that regret will get you nowhere—but that goes out when the window when, thanks to her father’s bad spending habits, her childhood apartment in is rented out to the very man still living in her head rent-free.
Freddie Wentworth never thought he would see Anne Elliot again after she dumped him for accepting a job overseas. He spent years trying to forget her, and he’s been mostly successful. So when a job opportunity takes him back to New York, he’s shocked to find out that Anne is not only his new neighbor, but also the former resident of his new Greenwich Village penthouse.
Nearly a decade after Anne and Freddie’s fateful romance, the only thing they still have in common is a desire to leave their relationship firmly in the past. But between a disastrous off-Broadway show and a drunken Thanksgiving dinner, nosey neighbors, and flirtatious friends, Anne and Freddie suddenly find their lives more intertwined than ever before. When old feelings start rising to the surface, they must decide whether to put their hearts on the line or walk away all over again.
[review]
Published by St. Martin's Press on November 4, 2025
Age/Genres: Adult, Fiction, Enchanted Realism
Rating:
Goodreads
A detour. A chance encounter. Two women who alter the pages of each other’s story.
Juliet Nightingale is lucky to be alive. Months after a freak accident involving lightning, she’s fully recovered but is left feeling that something is missing from her life. Something big. Impulsively, she decides to take a solo summer road trip, hoping that the journey will lead her down a path that will help her discover exactly what it is that she’s searching for.
Newly single mom Tallulah Byrd Mayfield is hanging by a thread after her neat, tidy world was completely undone when her husband decided that their marriage was over. In the aftermath of the breakup, she and her two daughters move in with her eighty-year-old grandfather. Tallulah starts a new job at the Forget-Me-Not Library, where old, treasured memories can be found within the books—and where Lu must learn to adapt to the many changes thrown her way.
When a road detour leads Juliet to Forget-Me-Not, Alabama, and straight into Tallulah’s life, the two women soon discover there’s magic in between the pages of where you’ve been and where you still need to go. And that happiness, even when lost, can always be found again.
[review]
Published by Forever on November 4, 2025
Age/Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Rating:
Goodreads
Fans suspect that the bad boy of hockey has a few skeletons in his closet. They have no idea he also has a sparkly bodysuit… #toepick! When they met at figure skating camp ten years ago, Chase Merritt was a scrappy hockey player from the wrong part of town, and Zoe Carson was the up-and-coming ice princess. They fell in love faster than you can say triple toe loop, until Zoe makes a fateful error that ends up costing Chase dearly.
Almost a decade later, their fortunes are reversed. Chase is the MVP of the New York Legends hockey team, while Zoe—their new skating coach—has years’ worth of personal and professional bruises. It’s hard to face him again—all six feet and two hundred pounds of muscle and swagger.
And anger. Chase is in hot water with management, and refusing to work with Coach Zoe no matter how badly he needs to shore up his stride—and his image. Until a journalist digs up an old video of Zoe and Chase performing a skating program, and the internet goes wild.
Management seizes on the opportunity for a P.R. redemption, ordering Zoe and Chase to reprise their flashy routine.
Skating with him again—to a love song, of course—is pure agony. But it’s also Zoe’s only chance to unpack the truth of what really happened that night ten years ago. And to at least find forgiveness, if she can’t win back his heart.
[review]
Published by Atria on November 11, 2025
Age/Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Rating:
Goodreads
From the “masterly” (The New York Times) Jodi McAlister, a charming new romance about two English professors who embark on a fake relationship…only to discover that it may be harder to pretend than they realized.
Sadie Shaw and Jonah Fisher have been academic rivals since they first crossed paths as undergraduates in the literature department thirteen years ago. Now that a highly coveted teaching opportunity has come up, their rivalry hits epic proportions. Jonah needs the job to move closer to his recently divorced sister and her children, while Sadie needs the financial security and freedom of a full-time teaching position.
When Sadie notices that the job offers partner hire, however, she hatches a plot to get them both the job. All they must do is get legally married. It’s a simple win-win solution but when sparks begin to fly, it becomes clear that despite their education, these two may not have thought this whole thing through.
Perfect for fans of Ali Hazelwood, Abby Jimenez, and Kayla Olson, An Academic Affair brings Jodi McAlister’s “smart, scorching, and emotionally resonant” (Freya Marske, author of A Restless Truth) writing to the forefront and demonstrates her talent as one of today’s best rom-com authors.
[review]
Published by Ace on September 16, 2025
Age/Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Fiction
Rating:
Goodreads
The spellbinding new cosy fantasy from Sunday Times bestseller Lucy Jane Wood.
Practically perfect, in every witch way…
From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Rewitched…
Annie Wildwood is practically perfect in every witch way. Her life is a haze of pink, magic and impossibly high standards. But, when she is tasked with mentoring a troubled teenage witch with extraordinary powers, Annie’s charmed existence is quickly thrown into utter chaos…
Set in the same enchanting world as Rewitched, Uncharmed celebrates found family, unconditional love and the joy of swapping perfectionism and people-pleasing for being your true magical self.
[review]
Honorable Mention
October was packed with great reading. Here are my honorable mention books. All earned 4.5 stars.
- book
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